Budget Battles: Are We Headed for Déjà Vu All Over Again?

Odds are the current political standoff will continue, maybe until we hit the debt ceiling again. The one hope: pork-barrel spending brings the two sides together.

Democrats and Republicans purportedly learned an invaluable lesson while at one another's throats over the budget and the debt ceiling. So, no more tantrums that take us to the edge of a debt default, right? No more imperious refusals to negotiate with one another, and no more frightening roller-coaster rides for the economy? Well, maybe.

Last week, Republicans and Democrats narrowly avoided a politically induced debt default by rescheduling the day of reckoning until after the New Year's holiday. Rock-ribbed conservatives...